Marked by Night
by ClockworkDreams
Summary: I was raised in the Hunter's compound just outside the Texas boarder. From birth I was taught to hate vampires, trained to kill them. The day of my fifteenth birthday, the day I became of age, changed my life forever. I could finally go out and Hunt he vampires myself. But my first mission turned out to be like nothing I thought it would be.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: The First Mission**

"Razi!" my mom calls up the stairs.

"Five minutes!" I yelled back, pulling my hair back up into a tight ponytail at the center of the back of my head. My thick hair's naturally straight close to my head, but then towards the bottom it falls in cascading curls down to the middle of my back. It's also oddly colored, brown where it's straight, then as it begins to curl it turns a rich auburn, coming to bright red ends. Funny thing is, that's how my hair naturally is. The strands will adjust and change color as they grow and get trimmed.

Every day I look about the same. No makeup to hide my freckles or emphasize my already bright sky-blue eyes. Strange hair up in a pony tail. Black tank top, dark wash jeans, and sleek lace up boots with a one inch wedge heel. The only jewelry that I wear is a silver cross around my neck, issued by the hunters that I work for and with.

Vampire hunters.

I'm fifteen years old, officially of age in the vampire hunting world, and getting ready to leave for me first official mission. My birthday was only two days ago.

I pull on simple black jacket and hurry down the stairs, nearly bumping right into my mom at the bottom.

"God, mom, don't do that!" I gasp, almost laughing.

"Well I told you to quit doing that!" she laughs back at me. I just shrug, practically bouncing up and down in place. "Calm yourself, baby, or they'll never take you seriously."

Just like that, I drop down flat on my feet, stop laughing, stop smiling, and take on a very serious and professional look. It's a big and quick enough change to startle my mom. Then she smiles, impressed, and I smile again. "Good, right?" I fish.

"Excellent," she hugs me. "You're going to do amazing. Now go kick some vampire ass."

"Hell yeah!" I cry, turning and heading for the door.

I cross the large training field, weaving around those who are already training for the day.

"Hey, Razi, skipping out on us?" one of the boys call after me. He's only a few months younger than me, but now those few months feel like years.

I turn and walk backwards, not bothering to stop as I call back, "In your dreams, Nelson. I'm headed out for my first mission!"

He doesn't say anything, his glare burning into me. If looks could kill, I'd be a dead girl walking.

But they can't, and I'm not, so I just smile and add, "That's right, be jealous!" Then I turn and walk forward again, getting closer to garage where I was told yesterday to meet the others.

Nobody bothers with greetings, including myself, as I approach the delivery truck that a scouting crew hijacked years ago, where the others are getting ready.

"What's the plan?" I ask, getting straight to the point. No bouncy teenager here.

The leader of the team turns to me after handing a bag up to someone who's already in the truck. "We're headed to Tulsa to survey the House of Night there."

"So what's with the delivery truck?" I ask, nodding towards the vehicle. It's been used all this time to gather supplies that can't be grown, raised or developed in our little Hunter compound.

The leader's eyes glinted with excitement, and I get the impression that no one else has bothered to ask this question. He motions for me to follow him as he walks around me, around the truck, and to the back. He throws open the doors, proudly revealing at least a dozen computer monitors, several keyboards in front of desk chairs…everything it takes to run a complete surveillance system.

"Damn…" I whispered, half in plain disbelief and half in pure amazement. "Is this what happens when you get bored? Because if so, I'm scared to think where the compound's cameras are."

"Very funny," he says sarcastically, but he's smiling as he jumps into the back of the van, motioning for me to follow. "Now, the plan is to get you into the House of Night."

"Excuse me?" my eyes widen in even deeper disbelief as I turn to look at him.

"We're going to get you into the House of Night of Tulsa. You're still a bit young, but I think you'll be able to pass off as a vampire pretty well."

I shake my head, "You can't be serious. I look nothing like a vampire."

"Well you're already very pale, which I honestly don't understand, as much as you're in the sun."

I can't very well argue that. My skin's always been pale, ivory. I never tan. Every once in a while I'll get a slight sunburn, but never tan.

"Alright, what about the Mark?" I challenge.

As an answer, he simply produced a bottle of what looked like nail polish. "This is a special iridescent face paint, the exact same shade of blue as the Marks that the vamps and fledglings get. And it's long lasting. Won't fade until you wash it off."

"You're serious," I realize with detached horror. "You're sending me in there, alone, with the vamps."

"Yes, we are," he nods.

This was the bad side to being a Hunter. We make sacrifice without looking back. Two weeks ago, a seven year old boy and her mother were killed, used as decoys to draw out some hungry vamps.

I nod, "Alright. When do we go?"

"Now," he jumps out of the back of the truck and calls to the others, "Alright, wrap it up, time to move!"

Everything's a blur of motion then and I fall into my own place in it easily. We finish loading up the last of the weapons, load ourselves into the truck, then pull out of the garage, out of the compound, and begin the long drive to the Tulsa House of Night.

We don't get there until about two in the morning. Two hours are spent briefing me on what I'll be doing, how I'll be reporting in, what I'll be looking for. Those entire two hours were also spent painting the crescent moon mock-Mark on the center of my forehead. I did it at least a dozen times, enough times to almost run up the nail-polish sized bottle that the leader of this mission gave me, until I finally get it perfect.

"Here, take these too," he hands me two more bottles. I easily fit all three of the bottles in the inside pocket of my jacket.

"How long am I going to be in there?"

"As long as it takes for us to find out just what goes on beyond those walls," he answers. "If you need any more of the paint, I can get some for you. You ready?"

I took my energy drink off the table beside me and chugged the last half of it. It was my third purple Monster of the long night. As I threw the empty can in the recycle bin, I smirk at the leader, "Ready."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The House of Night**

By the time I get to the gate of the Tulsa House of Night, I'm so hopped up on Monsters that I feel like a phone on vibrate. I bounce anxiously from one foot to the other as I stand before the gate, half wondering how to get past it. Then the gate silently swings inwardly, opening away from me.

"That's strange," a vampire woman approaches me, her long, waved, auburn hair tucked neatly behind one ear. "I don't remember anyone else being Marked today."

"I wasn't Marked by a Tracker," I tell her.

"Then how were you Marked?" she questions with one perfect eyebrow raised, her moss-green eyes boring into me.

I shrug, crossing my arms around myself, feeling a lot more defensive and paranoid than I let on. "I don't know. It just…appeared. I came as soon as I can. Look, I know it's weird, but please, you can't just leave me out here to die."

"How long ago _were_ you Marked? You look remarkable well."

I shake my head, "Not long at all. A few hours, maybe? I'm not sure, I've never really been good at keeping track of time." Good god, was that true. "I've been hovering around here for hours, trying to work up the courage to come here. It probably sounds stupid now, but I've always been terrified of vampyres."

The woman smiles warmly, "Many humans are frightened of us. It's not stupid at all. Please, come in. Another fledgling just arrived today. Unfortunately, she's arrived here unconscious. She should be waking up any moment though. I hope you don't mind if we go see her? That way, when she does wake, you can both get a tour of the school together. I almost wish I could allow you to be roommates, but she's already been assigned one and all of her things are in her room."

I fake a grateful smile as I follow her towards the castle-like grounds of the House of Night.

"Oh, forgive me, my surprise at your arrival has caused me to forget my manners. I'm Neferet, High Priestess of the Tulsa House of Night."

"I always thought High Priestesses were witches."

Neferet's smile brightens as she laughs slightly, "Witches and vampyres are one in the same. The truth is that vampyres have more in common with witch lore than vampyre lore."

"That's….weird," I admit without really thinking about it first.

"Not really," she smiles at me as if we were sharing some great secret. "You see, vampyres over the years have gone to great lengths to be sure that humans never know the full truth of who we are. Now, what is your name?"

"Oh, Razi," I remember that I hadn't given her my name. "Razi Hawkthorn."

"Here we are, the infirmary," Neferet opens the door before us, revealing a classic hospital-wing style room like it was straight out of the Harry Potter movies. Lying in one of the beds is an unconscious fledgling with a filled in Mark, which was unheard of for fledglings, as far as I know. Sitting in a chair beside that bed is an old woman who I desperately hoped was the fledglings grandmother, and _not_ her mother. "Just in time," Neferet adds in a whisper before she goes to the bed.

"Zoeybird! Are you awake, baby?" the old woman asks eagerly. I hang back by the door, leaning against the wall and giving them their moment. But I listen to every word.

"Grandma!" the girl croaked in a hoarse voice. "What happened? Where am I?"

"You're safe, Little Bird. You're safe."

"My head hurts."

"It should," Grandma says, and I smile slightly when she says, "You scared ten years of my life from me. All that blood… How about you promise not to do that again?" she shudders, and I briefly wonder if my mom would be so concerned if I got injured on this mission, or even killed. I doubt she would. She's a loving mother, not a bad person at all, and more than a little doting. But the fact is that we are Hunters, and there's always the chance as we leave the compound that we will never come back.

Then I wonder where Zoeybird's mother is, and why she's not here with her daughter.

"Promise," Zoeybird says with a slight smile. "So you found me…?"

"Bloody and unconscious, Little Bird. And so pale that your dark crescent seemed to glow against your skin. I knew you needed to be taken back to the House of Night, which is exactly what I did. I called your mother to tell her that I was returning you to the House of Night, and I had to pretend that my cell phone cut out so I could hang up on her. I'm afraid she's not happy with either of us."

Zoeybird grins at her grandmother, apparently very happy that her mom was pissed.

"But Zoey, whatever were you doing out during the daylight? And why didn't you tell me earlier that you had been Marked?" Grandma goes on to ask.

Zoey struggles to sit up, grunting in pain. "Wait, I couldn't have told you any earlier. The Tracker came to school today and Marked me. I went home first. I really hoped Mom would understand and take my side," she pauses then. "She and John basically locked me in my room while they called our shrink and started the prayer tree."

I smirk. A hypnotized mom and a die-hard Catholic step-father. Bet that was a fun life. Bet even more that Zoey's more than happy to have sanctuary at the House of Night, a place to live that's not under her idiotic parent's ever-watchful eye. Even if she might not be quite as thrilled about the Mark and the idea of the Change.

"So I crawled out my window and came straight to you," Zoey finishes.

"I'm glad you did, Zoeybird, but it just doesn't make any sense."

Zoey sighs, "I know, I can't believe I got Marked either. Why me?"

"That's not what I mean, baby. I'm not surprised you were Tracked and Marked. The Redbird blood has always held strong magic, it was only a matter of time before one of us was Chosen. What I mean is that it makes no sense that you were _just_ Marked. The crescent isn't an outline. It's completely filled in."

Then I was right. It is unusual. Now I just have to figure out what it means. Shots are though, it's nothing good the me and the rest of the Hunters.

"That's impossible!" Zoey gasps.

"Look for yourself u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya," Grandma says, making me frown in further confusion. What the hell language is she speaking? Because I can identify most languages even if I can't speak them, but that's way out of my level. Grandma pulls compact mirror out of her purse and hands it to Zoey, who flips it open to take in the filled in Mark on her forehead.

"What does it mean?" she wonders.

Then, finally, Neferet steps forward and speaks up, "We were hoping you would have an answer to that question, Zoey Redbird."

For a minute Zoey doesn't say anything, just stares blankly at Neferet in dumbfounded stupidity. All she manages to get out in the way of words is, "Huh?"

"I said, we were hoping you would have some explanation about why a fledgling vampyre that hasn't Changed has the Mark of a mature being on her forehead."

"So I'm not a vampire?" Zoey asks.

Neferet laughs, "Not yet, Zoey, but I would say that already having your Mark complete is an excellent omen."

Wouldn't _that_ be ironic, if she didn't end up making the Change?

"Oh, I, well, good. That's good," Zoey babbles like a fool.

Grandma speaks up, saving her from complete embarrassment, "Zoey, this is the High Preistess of the House of Night, Neferet. She's been taking good care of you while you've been asleep."

"Welcome to the House of Night, Zoey Redbird."

"That's, tat's not really my name. My last name is Montgomery."

"Is it?" Neferet questions before continuing, "One benefit to beginning a new life is that you have the opportunity to start over – to make choices you weren't given before. If you could choose, what would your true name be?"

"Zoey Redbird," she answers without hesitation.

"Can I change my name too?" I ask on pure impulse. I know this is all temporary, an undercover operation, and the name I gave her isn't even my real name, but the impulse to change it takes me over so fast and hard that the words are out before I can even stop them.

Zoey and her grandma both look up at me in surprise, not having noticed me before from my position by the door.

Neferet turns to me to, "Of course. What would you like to change your name to?"

"Lace," I answer with just as little hesitation as Zoey did. "Razi Lace."

Neferet smiles, "Then from this moment on, you both shall be Zoey Redbird and Razi Lace. Welcome to your new life."


End file.
